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Trip: East McMillan Spire - North Buttress Trip Date: 09/24/2025 Trip Report: As Blake seems to speculate in the back of Cascades Rock, this is a legitimately high quality route. While the rock is of course worse than Index or Supercave, it is better than the E ridge of Inspiration or Stoddard Buttress on Terror (and much better than Megalodon). It's also less vegetated than the E face of Triumph or Sloan SW face. There was only one pitch we wouldn't recommend (up high in the schist band), but it can and should be avoided. The steep middle section is characterized by thin parallel cracks, highly textured ripples, and shady climbing with a shocking lack of lichen. When you emerge onto the slightly more West facing schist band for the last few hundred meters, lichen becomes tiresome as the angle eases and rock deteriorates. There are absolutely a couple of serious runouts, but they occur on clean, solid rock. From camp on a small heather patch a few minutes below Little Mac, we approached via a ledge just below Little Mac that accesses the NW trending ridge toward Elephant Butte. We made four rappels beginning at at an old station I had found during a recon trip in October 2020. This seems likely to be the rappel used by the 1986 party, maybe also the 1976 party, and I think @rat has also mentioned climbing the buttress, so perhaps used it as well. The 2008 party (AAJ, NWMJ) approached via Stetattle ridge. After four 45-55m rappels, we walked and scrambled easily to the base of the buttress. We simulclimbed 200-300m on the lower buttress, then belayed eight ~45-50m pitches (5.8 to 5.10-), then simulclimbed (interrupted by one belayed pitch, which we would recommend avoiding) to the summit. For the central, steep section we wanted to climb near but right of the buttress crest, which except for pitch 2 (a horizontal leftward traverse) yielded a logical path almost directly upward. Looking upwards from low on the buttress, two corners right of the crest (separated by a chossy roof) seem to provide the obvious options into the steeper middle section. We aimed for the left corner (which we presumed was the 2008 route), and thought the right corner was probably the 1986 route. We encountered many pieces of fixed gear throughout the route (mostly knifeblades, with a few nuts, a hex, and a rigid stem friend). Since the 2008 party rappelled the face (!!!), presumably close to their line of ascent, we think we followed large portions of their route (Come Over to the Dark Side). That said, I haven't really managed to match the route lines in either the NWMJ or AAJ to our experience (at least at the resolution I can manage to download). From the summit, we downclimbed SW to the col with West McMillan, then continued downclimbing S in the gully for a few minutes. When the gully's left wall flattened, we slung a boulder and made four 45-55m rappels to reach low angle slopes and walked back to camp, arriving about 15 hours after leaving that morning. West McMillan, Inspiration, The Pyramid, Degenhardt, and Terror from high on the route: From left to right: E McMillan, W McMillan, Inspiration, The Pyramid, and Degenhardt. The route goes just right of the sun/shade line on the leftmost peak. The approach rappels start down a relatively solid corner just right of the low point on the left). Photo by Steph Abegg: First rappel into McMillan Creek cirque: Racking up before the first simul block: Marlin starting up the first simul block: Marlin at the top of pitch 1: Looking back partway across the pitch 2 traverse. There was a fixed two-pin anchor at the end of this traverse that may be that in the 2008 NWMJ "Erik starts the crux" photo: Looking down partway up pitch 3. This section had some blocks and flakes that looked ominous from below, but sounded and felt solid on closer inspection: The upper part of pitch 3. This was probably the most runout section of the route: Looking down the start of pitch 4: Marlin at the top of pitch 4: Marlin starting up pitch 5: Marlin starting up pitch 6: And navigating the roof on pitch 6: Starting pitch 7: And pitch 8, which should have been the last belayed pitch: Simuling in the schist band: Marlin leading the very-not-recommended lichen covered, loose pitch in the schist band. Go right before here, toward the E Mac col, to keep it scrambly. There was a fixed pin near his feet here, so we weren't the first to get suckered into it: Belaying on the summit. The buttress crest in this section is stacked, lichenous blocks that seem to overhang the impressively steep East face. You want nothing to do with the crest here: Setting up the first rappel out of the E Mac-W Mac gully: Impressive ambience the next morning, looking toward Azure lake from camp: Hiking out, looking toward Triumph: And a friend from the start of the schist band. It was still solidly placed and easily removed after, probably, 17 years (although could use some lube): Gear Notes: Modern gear made a huge difference on this route, especially microcams (compare the 2008 party's rack in the NWMJ pictures), microtrax simuling, and fix-and-following. We took a 50m lead and 65m tag line (we didn't haul), ~5 kbs/lost arrows, at least triples to fingers with offset aluminum and brass nuts, doubles to #1, single #2 and #3, and four microtraxions. Our smallest cams (purple C3 and green/#0 Z4) were used in several critical placements. Approach Notes: Goodell Creek to Terror Basin, then up slabs toward Little Mac.

The trip report for Nature's Way has languished in the North Cascades section without comment. I must bring your attention to what may become a classic NW granite pitch. Also, this "Rock Climbers Forum" needs some bloody content. If you are a crack climber, you may not pay any attention to news from Darrington, the slab paradise. But there is a new crack pitch you should be aware of, Nature's Way pitch 3. On a less-than-vertical wall, the giant flake forms a rising undercling crack of fingers width between .3" and .75" for 20 feet. The wall has been wire-brushed for clean smearing of feet. There is one rest stop halfway along, an edge for feet and a crack for fingers. After that, more pure undercling moves to the top of the flake. The pitch seems burly for this moderate slab climber. It has commitment, unless you enjoy underclinging with one arm while placing pro. It is steep enough to look intimidating at first, but not steep enough to be 5.10. I'd like some crack scholars to go up there and confirm, or not, my grade of solid 5.9. It takes three hours+ to hike up there. Bring sandals or the like for the creek crossing. It can be done in an easy day; I just did the second ascent, with my buddy Yale, yesterday, 10hrs car-to-car. It requires two 60m ropes, as the first two pitches are long, ~55m. Topo and approach details are on Mountain Project. It is restful to stand here and place extra pro: And, after some furious activity, to stand on edges and place some more: On the hike down yesterday, I daydreamed some future essay, "The Controlled Frenzy of Undercling". I hope some of you can plan to spend a day on a new crack climb. Let us know what you think. Bill

Mount Vernon! Ah, didn't know you used to live up this way....So you know how all over the place March can be. Often the good skiing hangs around for a bit so that is often my go-to at that time, but you never know....

Trip: Cascade Volcanoes - Bike-athon Trip Date: 06/06/2025 Trip Report: Summary: I set out to stand all 5 WA volcanoes in the same 7 day (168 hour) period, bike powered between them. As usual, antics ensued. An unplanned road closure added ~100 miles on the bike and the goal was adjusted to 8 days/192 hours. In the end, I stood atop Mount Baker on hour 189 since departing the Mount Adams summit. The journey in between had deep suffering, even deeper discovery and an adventure I’ll always remember. The trip had to be solo. But the story was too good not to share… Classic DC shot, peak 3 of 5 In recent years I’ve become increasingly obsessed with long bike-hikes. But it's hard to remember exactly where, when or why this dream came to be. A while back some lunatic bike/climbed all the Cascade volcanos and that certainly added some fuel to the fire. There is something about doing it all on human power makes the adventure feel a little more....real…for lack of a better term. Earning every inch helps put me more in touch with the broader landscapes which connect our High Places Planning an effort like this was sort of an impossible task. Timing the trip would require some favor from the weather gods. But knowing the patterns of the PNW and its’ volcanoes, June would be the time. Without better criteria I figured lets pencil it in around the longest days of the year in order to limit the odds of after-dark cycling. The snow coverage on Rainier in particular would also help mitigate the risks of solo travel on big glaciers. So I wrote it in for June 14-22…but a forecast presented in the first days of June that was too good to pass up. I was not fully recovered from training, nor was my equipment or logistics in order. But that was all figureoutable. With a week of solid high pressure I eeked my way out of whatever responsibilities I had, and set off. Originally the plan had been to start the trek from the Adams TH and climb with a friend. The new plan instead had me start the ride from White Salmon, at the Oregon border. That green-blue-white color scheme 😍 Its finally summer in the hills Call it a warm up! The 37 miles to the Adams TH went pretty quick until the last few. Reports warned of a “rough” “dirt” road leading up to the south side climb. Rough was fine, dirt was fine. The sandy parts were nearly impossible on a bike loaded up with camping and climbing gear. Despite that, I eventually reached the TH, unpacked and slept as soon as I could. By 2am it was too cold to stay asleep. The forecast for the week was going to be very warm. So I chose the lightest quilt I had in order to save weight. But that first night I paid the price. Preferring to rest longer but knowing when to bend I got up, packed, ate and started trudging upwards. Because my concept of this challenge was starting the clock when I departed the first summit, I kept my pace slow to conserve energy for what would inevitably be a very long first full day. By 830am I reached the top. Perfectly clear, sunny…but bitter cold wind. By 845am I started the clock and raced down the mountain. A few thousand feet down the surface was soft enough for efficient plunge stepping. By 1130am I was back with the bike, repacked and ready to coast a bit. The road would not make this as carefree as I hoped. Tedious, bumpy miles eventually lead to a delightful (paved!) forested downhill. Once in Trout Lake I found the restaurants closed. So I had my first gas station meal of the trip. A secondary goal of the trip was to eat ice cream at every country side store I could. Feasting junk food on the front porch, the staff asked “isn’t it early for through hikers?” I must have smelled like one already. The first of 22 ice creams... As we chatted I learned that forest road 25 was still closed due to a combination of landslide, construction, lingering snow and owl conservation. I spent most of the day having my at home contact help brainstorm how I would re route after climbing Mount Saint Helens. In the mean time I continued, but the uncertainty weighed me down. Riding to MSH took the rest of the day. There were a few miles of pushing the bike through snow. Definitely among the low points of the trip. That night I slept at the climbers bivouac TH after 19 hours and 12k of combined vertical gain. I was exhausted and the stoke was low. That night I had some thoughts of giving up. Ultimately a series of bad dreams in the early morning were disturbing enough to force me awake. Sometimes nightmares can serve that benefit. Within seconds of waking my mind refocused. Trying to close the distance before dark on day 1 Hiking MSH under good weather was a treat. The ascent went fast and easy, but not as easy as the descent. I was totally out of water but snagged a liter that had fallen out of someone’s pack on the glissade track. Back at the road, some kind soul had packed a can of coconut water in a snow patch they built near my bike. A little trail magic- bike touring edition. It really made me happy. Not just the fluid intake but that some strangers had the consideration of doing that for me. Solid folks can still be found… At first I thought it was a beer...probably for the better that I was wrong... Another huge boost came that morning when I was high enough to catch cell signal. I was able to devise a re route to get me to Rainier. It would add a day of cycling, and push the 7 day goal to 8, but the mission would continue! Riding back to the I5 corridor was definitely not my preference but flexibility is a trait we learn on quests like this. I spent the night at a trashy motel near the freeway. The next day was type 1 touring. Flat farmlands with many, many ice creams to be had. I reached Ashford in the late afternoon and settled in for a 13 hour sleep. The next “day” (actually two days, no sleep in between) would be huge. Arguably the crux “day”. It was some of the best sleep I’ve ever had. The schedule for the next segment required I wait til around noon to start. Timing travel on the upper slopes of Rainier was the priority. The 20 miles from Ashford to Paradise was actually pretty nice for being continuously uphill. I took my time through there, keeping my heart rate and mental stimulation as low as possible. Reaching Paradise at 4pm on a perfect Saturday, I remembered why I avoid this place on summer weekends. Luckily, on a bike parking is not an issue… A nice melty treat...and also an ice cream The permit stop was pretty seamless. Months prior I had received approval for a solo climb. Checking in was a simple formality. I killed a couple hours (and ice creams), letting the sun begin setting and the snow firming up. By 630pm I could wait no longer. Setting out from Paradise I continued to be intentional about managing my pace. Once on the snowfield I started to open it up a bit. At Muir I was surprised to find absolutely zero wind. I took this opportunity to rest for an hour. After that break, something came over me. My energy was maniacal. It felt like nothing could stop me. By the time I reached the top of disappointment cleaver I had passed 52 people. 3h 53m after leaving Muir, I was standing alone on Columbia Crest, well ahead of sunrise and ahead of schedule. I had stood there many times before, sometimes alone, but this was a very powerful moment. Its hard to describe the feelings that came over me as the first bits of dawn stumbled over the horizon. Its amazing how full life can be…I hope some day I can better explain what came over me. The descent was uneventful… fast, efficient. By now I was getting better at repacking the bike, even though one of my cheap panniers had exploded. Riding down from Paradise was probably my favorite segment of cycling in my life. Almost no pedaling, fantastic views. Hardly any traffic, surprisingly. The bliss would not last. The rest of the day would be 80 relatively flat miles but with a strong headwind and temperatures reaching the low 90s. To boot, it was the first hot Sunday of summer and the roads were bustling. The miles were stressful and seemed to never end. Eventually I reached home in South Seattle. I had started the effort 32 hours earlier. In the end I would gain over 16k feet of vert and drink 15L of water. It was nice to be home for a second. But I had many tasks to complete in order to be ready to ride out the next morning. New panniers arrived. I did laundry. Tuned up the bike…and even had a few minutes to tend to garden tasks. The next morning I had pizza and cake for breakfast and then hit the road. The day would be 12 hours and 117 miles but it actually went pretty well. The first ⅓ of that were on routes that I ride often. I encountered some nice bike paths from Snohomish to Arlington, and beyond to Darrington. The gas station there was closed due to “extreme heat”. But I still managed to find some ice cream and groceries before continuing to the Glacier Peak TH. It was at this point that I started to feel like this could actually happen… It was a poor night of sleep there. But by 550am I was on the move, even if it was a little sluggish. If you’ve hiked GP before you know what a slog it is. It seems never ending, like you’re making no progress. My morale and energy improved as the day went on. I made the summit around 430pm. What a view. Glacier Peak is a highly underrated IMO One of the few photos that day. Rainier seems real far away ! It would be a long ways back to my sleeping pad and fart sack. But I made pretty good time. When I left White Pass at sunset the beauty was astounding. I had enough energy to run a few miles. The slog along the river valley did seem to take forever but at the stroke of midnight I strolled back into the parking lot. It did not take long to eat and fall asleep. The next morning I woke up and ate the 100 calories of crumbs left in my bag and started the (easy) 25 miles back to Darrington. Once at Moe’s I ate an unspeakable amount of food. Probably it was “too much” because my pace slowed to a crawl on the miles from there to Concrete. Once in town I decided I had better over-eat again… holy cow! just one left... It would be just a few more hours of uphill pedaling until I’d park the bike for the final time on this trip. There is something odd that happens at this stage in a grand-journey. Two strong but opposing feelings. On the one hand there is incredible relief that the work was nearly over. But the part that might be unexpected to some is the feeling of sadness that the mission would soon be over. So many years of planning and preparation, and now this week of total focus…it would be done soon. I had found comfort and identity in my striving. And with the finish line in sight I would lose them both At Schreibers Meadow I had a few hours to rest before starting up. A friend was at Sandy Camp and would be joining me for the final hours. Before the trip I wondered how my energy would be at this point. Would I be exhausted and barely hanging on? Or would I have tapped into some deeper energy and be racing to the top… A night to remember...headlamps stayed in the pack It was the latter...stoke was through the roof...through the clouds even... At 550am we stood on top So much of what makes a journey like this worthwhile are the elements that can't be transmitted in words or photograph...but I've enjoyed trying Gear Notes: no gear. just ice cream Approach Notes: no

I don't think I could ask for a better 1st trip into the Picket Range! One thing to add is that this late in the season we didn't have to cross any snow/ice on the approach, the traverse to the base of the route or on route. Here are a few more photos. Starting up pitch 1. The main corner system that we followed is up and left of the obvious large roof directly above this corner. Starting up pitch 3. The large detached looking block at top right was more secure than it looks. Starting up pitch 4 towards the roof. Avoid this by traversing right across the face at the roof. Coming up to the belay at the top of pitch 6. Our descent route down the south side. From the col between east and west Mac we followed the gully south along the dotted line then made 4 raps approximately where the 4 dots are to reach the lower angle terrain. Morning sunrise from the bivy.

Trip Report: September 27-28, 2025 Climbed this route with my brother, Neta. I rarely write trip reports, but some additional beta for this climb might be useful. Peter's trip report is very accurate, and we followed the yellow lines closely for most of the way. Our description builds off of it, rather than being stand-alone. Beta: There is a climber's path from the lower Thornton Lake to above tree line, and from there it is pleasant travel to the saddle just South of Thornton Peak (48.69136, -121.35286). The traversing descent from there to Triumph Pass matched Peter's description. We found the steep side-slope, followed by a brief slide alder crossing, followed by a steep and cliffy forest to a bit miserable (or should I say, despairing?). This section was one of the cruxes of the route, made worse by the knowledge we have to do it in the harder direction on the way back. However, following the yellow line from Peter's photos worked well. Micro-spikes were very helpful in the side-slopes and in the steep forest. Attached are some GPS points that we recorded to help navigate the steeper portion on the way back. (Note that we did not record the slide alder crossing, which was just SE of the first point, or the steep traverses before that). TriumphBasin.gpx The descent from Triumph Pass towards lake below has deteriorated since August 2021. The glacier receded a lot, and the descent now involves loose scree. As expected from recently glaciated area, the rocks seemed to want to roll downhill at the slightest trigger, and getting through this section would have been challenging in a large group. Being only two of us, we went one at a time in the descent (where we rolled dozens of rocks), and on the way up we stayed very close together (and picked a better route with slightly less rockfall). The traverse from the lake below to the pocket lake below Mount Despair was uneventful (albeit tiring with more side-slopes), and it brought us to our camp as it was getting dark. The next morning we left camp at first light (around 6:30 this time a year) and headed towards the summit. We followed Peter's yellow route to the bottom of the Summit pyramid, to a beautiful saddle (~6600') with a great view. From there, we followed ledges and gullies through steep terrain, dry thorny heather, and loose blocks to reach the summit. On the way up we roughly followed the E ridge with some excursions to the SE Face. Unlike Peter's party we never crossed the ridge to the NE Face, which seemed very intimidating whenever we set eyes on it. The last hundred or so vertical feet below the summit were the most exposed, involving a steep gully and an exposed slab. Overall the climb involved sustained class three terrain where falling would be ill-advised, with a couple class four moves. Not finding a rappel anchor to our liking (did we mention that a lot of the blocks were loose?), we down-climbed the most exposed section, and walked to a saddle South of the summit, taking a better descent path than our ascent route. While the better descent part did not bypass the most exposed section, it meant bypassed some of the 3 gullies via slightly easier terrain, making for a less stressful descent. Below is a rough estimate of our routes, along with photos of Neta on the most exposed slab, and in one of the many gullies. From the bottom of the summit pyramid we retraced our steps, making use of the GPS points we recorded to get through the steep section in Triumph basin. While there may have been a better way then the way we took to get there, we had no desire to waste time route-finding with darkness on our tails. Our only mishap was taking a wrong fork on the climber's path above the middle Thornton lakes that lead us to the outlet of the middle lake, which we did not get to on the way up. It would have made for a nice side trip had we not been so tired. However, as it was, we retraced our steps up to the climber path that we came on (Peter's yellow line). Continuing down the creek to the inlet of the lower lake and connecting to the climber's path from there might have also worked, but we preferred to retrace our steps over an additional adventure. Times: Left the car Saturday slightly after 9am, and reached camp at Lake Despair (is it what it's called? 48.72737, -121.37365) around 7:30pm, as it got dark. On the second day we left camp at 6:40am at first light, summited, and got back to camp at 10:50am. We left camp soon after, and reached the trail at the lower Thornton lake just before 7, happy to avoid off-trail travel in the dark. Back to the car by 9pm. Additional Photos Thornton Lakes, lined up from the saddle: Through the Triumph Creek basin: Mount Triumph, from a flattering angle. To it's right is the scree we had to descend, with the remnant of a glacier. And the loooong way back: Is this as classic as it gets for a North Cascades trip? Bushwhacking with Triumph towering over our head: A goat, with Upper Thornton Lake in the background:

Trip: High point of The Needles (AKA Big Methow Needle) plus the East Peak - Standard Trip Date: 08/02/2025 Trip Report: It seems to be that after 20 years you can repeat a peak and it is almost like you've never climbed it before. Almost. The memory of the character building approach in soft snow wasn't entirely forgotten when @Trent suggested the high point of the Needles (Top 200!) on a Saturday a few weeks back. I had last been up that way 23 years before with my friend Dennis and we had gone straight up from the highway/campground, traversing endless ribs and isothermic mush for a few short 5th class pitches. BUT, Steve had found a better way! Or, so I sincerely hoped, and so I found myself gearing up on the shoulder of 20 again, peering into the brush and looking for the faint hint of a trail @Eric Gilbertson had mentioned was in there. After some minimal thrashing indeed a halfway decent trail emerged, though downed logs were beginning to reclaim it slowly but surely. Things were looking better than I remembered and we continued up. Thankfully the valley thrashing is relatively short lived and the ascent up an open forest rib soon lifts one to views and cooling breezes. A couple hours slogging brought our first views of the Methow Needle, which was more impressive than I remembered. The views to Tower and Golden Horn were also much better than I remembered: Soon we were at the base of the climbing, racking up for 3 pitches of 4th/mid fifth class: @Trent took the sharp end first and launched up on the surprisingly steep first pitch, which was solid, if somewhat kitty litterish: A couple more rambly pitches brought to the lonesome summit, which really hasn't gotten much more popular since the register was placed in 1968. It was a much more entertaining read than most, and I especially enjoyed the firsthand accounts of FAs by Pete Doorish and his partners many moons ago: We were definitely not worthy, but we were there, on the summit nonetheless: And the views, of course, were better than I remembered. Buckner, Boston, Sahale, Tower, Eldorado, Mesahchie, Katsuk, Kimtah (L-R): When I had last climbed it via the not recommended approach in less than ideal snow conditions, I was a young man and was still thoroughly whupped by the end of the day after climbing only Big Methow Needle. This time, we were older and wiser and had some extra energy to head over to the East Peak of the Needles which afforded a grand view of the North side of The Needles, along with many ladybugs (visble at black specs in the photo of @Trent below): But, pleasant as it was up there, we couldn't stay forever and reluctantly had to descend back to the brush and blowdown to battle the masses back west across the pass. Still, a parting view of Big Methow Needle as we dropped to treeline was a good reminder that we have an exceptional backyard here in the North Cascades: Gear Notes: Light Rock rack to 2", 60m rope, helmet Approach Notes: Stay in the valley and find an old trail up Pine Creek on south side. Where it crosses to north side of creek follow for a bit longer into timber until it peters out and you head up via open forest to treeline and the peak.

Dude, you think you're tired? Just wait!

Hope you don't mind @psathyrella....moved this to the North Cascades. Really great report, thanks for repeating such an incredible line and posting here about it!

Great TR with historic flavor. Such crisp photos. Sixteen cents!!!!

"Might as well win the whole fucking thing!" Gave me chills watching Cal hit #60 to chants of "MVP! MVP!"

That poetry.

I'm calling it. THIS is the year!

A memorable outing escorted by planning powerhouse that is JGAPLLC! Thanks Jason, awesome photos as usual!

I’ve been using https://browser.dataspace.copernicus.eu

Trip: Seefar Peak, Brooks Range, The Long Way - East Gullies From Marsh Fork To Dalton Highway Trip Date: 07/28/2025 Trip Report: TLDR Version/Intro: Me and 4 buddies went to the Brooks Range in Alaska for 12 days of hiking through one of the largest wilderness areas in North America. July 28 to Aug 10. We had a blast and it went great. We got flown in by a bush flight, walked along many river valleys, hiked up a talus pile peak and then through the wilderness, across rivers and over hills to the Dalton Highway where we got picked up by a commercial shuttle service that drove us back to Fairbanks and the World. Long version: Day 0: Drive from Bellingham to Seattle, Fly from Seattle to Fairbanks on Alaska Air (duh), van ride, Uber ride. Walk around town, hit a bar, Thai food. Beers in the hotel room. Day 1: Fly to Coldfoot on Wright Air, slight delay due to missed flight (don’t believe the hotel that you don’t need to be early to Wright Air, they take their business very seriously). Immediately upon landing in Coldfoot we jumped into prop plane the same age as my parents and fly with Dirk of Coyote Air into Upper Marsh Fork landing strip on the Marsh Fork of the Canning River. The flight was incredible, frequently with wheels just clearing ridgetops and flying the terrain up and down valleys. Extremely scenic, caribou and sheep. Upon landing there was much exclaiming and pointing and backslapping. Once we got settled down and the final packing completed we hiked up valley. Warm, patchy sun, overnight hard rain. Glorious, glorious, glorious! I got a good chuckle out of everyone later admitting that they were forcing down the nausea the whole bush flight and hiding it from the others. 5.5 miles, 2.5 hours. “Rainy Camp” Day 2: Hike up Marsh Fork, cross into unnamed very upper East Fork tributary of the Ivishak River drainage. Camp at headwaters. Hard day, with technical talus and side-hilling above cliffs and raging water. The river was running pretty high from the previous night's rain so walking in the canyon bottom was not an option for us, otherwise this would have been easier. Cool and misty with rain. Amazing, just like home but nothing like it at all at the same time, so great all around; we expected weather, didn’t rain enough to get wet. Much exclaiming about the scenery. 12 miles, 9 hours “Frosty camp” Day 3: Awoke to frost on the tents and plants. Hiked down canyon to junction with upper east fork of the Ivishak, down river past multiple small confluences, easy walking. Over interminable ridge with tussocks (our first!) to Ivishak River main stem. Camp in a “hay field”. Bluebird sun and warm, 2 long great breaks for lunch. Much exclaiming about the scenery. We pushed hard on this day to set ourselves up for a potential summit tomorrow assuming the weather held out. We didn't want to get stranded up high looking for a campsite with no water. 16 miles, 11 hours “Hayfield camp” Day 4: Ascended Ivishak valley toward Continental Divide, turn south to climb Seefar Peak via dogleg east gully, awesome snow in first gully, then major talus slog to the summit. Amazing time spent on the summit, warm but breezy. Lots of cool fossils in the limestone. Descent to the south and west terrible talus, so we bailed off the ridge early to Wind River valley. Made camp. Amazing dry tundra camp next to river. Shoes and socks dry at camp! First time since 5 minutes into the trip. Bathed in river and washed clothes. Bluebird, sun, warm. Much exclaiming about the scenery. A good time was had by all. 10 miles 4000', 10 hours “Swimming Hole Camp” Day 5: Hiked down Wind River, saw wolves with puppies, then later moose which led us into a lousy tussock field, camped in side creek. Very mediocre spot, but extremely close to water and some dry wood, so we had a fire and drank margaritas to enliven the spirits a little. It worked. Much exclaiming about the scenery. 14.3 miles, 7.5 hours “Margaritaville Camp” Day 6: Up wind River tributary, saw a grizzly with two cubs, a heard of sheep way up high, and a lone wolf across the valley making quick work of the talus. Up a unique talus-ey canyon, over two passes, one being the Continental Divide, down a tributary of a southern fork of the Ribbon River. Great walking most of the time. We got showered on twice, but mostly sunny. The area where we looked to camp was somewhat brushy with knee-high vegetation and it took a bit of looking to find a good campsite, eventually made a spot work quite well with great moss and blueberries. 13 miles, 8 hours “Barefoot camp” Day 7: Nice enough weather early, quickly turned to rain, then hard rain, despite the Inreach weather saying it would improve throughout the day. Misery. Trudged up to beautiful lake, too windy and cold to enjoy it. Saw wolf puppies briefly. Over pass separating the Ribbon and Accomplishment Creek and down to tundra on other side, just past dangerously slick boulder field. Dove into tents soaked through. Very cold and wet. Lunch in tent, nap. Whiskey helped spirits a lot... at least in my tent. Less exclaiming about the scenery today, though everyone admitted it would have been great if we could have enjoyed it. 8 miles, 4 hours, no breaks. “Sunny dry happy fun camp” Day 8: Woke to fog but no rain, weather improved dramatically throughout the morning. This was clutch since our base layers were completely soaked. First thing in the morning everybody got ready to hike then leapt into our wet clothes and immediately started walking quickly to warm up in an attempt to dry out some clothes. Down Accomplishment Creek, up side creek over a pass with lots of caribou antlers, half way down canyon on other side to camp. Beautiful country, lots of exclaiming over the scenery, sunny and warm, dried out everything. Decent walking. Saw moose, wolverine. Drizzle just before camp. “Sewing camp” due to a near catastrophic pack blowout. 9.5 hours. 16 miles Day 9: Drizzle, fog, cool. Down interesting puzzle canyon, that was tons of fun to figure out, left side, right side, in the creek, does it go? It goes! Saw a griz at a distance, then across a big river, nameless east tributary of the Sagavanirktok, (tough, fast crossing), hardest of the trip. Slogged up a tussock hill, to canyon, over pass and down to Sag valley, mediocre camp, not many options. We were told that the Sag was a tough crossing that kills people from time to time, so we were excited to get a look at it from up high. I had done a lot of satellite and map reconnaissance of the entire route and had picked out an area of the Sag that is quite braided, hopefully making for the easiest crossing. I had read a few scattered reports of people who crossed just a couple miles further north and had to use rafts. “Lumpy camp” 12 miles, 7.5 hours Day 10: Foggy AM, then sunny and warm. Across the Sag! It ended up being not that big a deal, but it helped that we were on day 10 and river crossing 1 million +/- a couple hundred thousand. Up the valley wall to an amazing broad sunny saddle with rolling fog, for a tea break. We were on a plateau above the confluence of the Atigun and Sagavanirktok Rivers. The fog started to break up after break, we walked slowly; some bad weather was predicted today and the next couple so over the previous few days we had hustled to make sure we could get across the Sag before the rain set in. Unlike the previous days, the weather report ended up being pessimistic and we had great afternoon sunshine. We strolled through tussocks to camp on a sunny alpine tundra slope. Amazing day. Surprise sun! Everyone tard sailed all their gear out on the tundra to dry out everything. Dry socks even!! The low tundra around camp made for great lounging and camping, and beautiful. The sun and sense of accomplishment really made the light on the hills glow that long afternoon. “Kick Ass Camp” 5 miles, 5 hours Day 11: Hiked off the plateau to the Atigun River, up the river valley to the road, road!? Long road walk to Galbraith Lake camp. My knees hurt after the 8 miles of road for the first time in the entire trip. Mostly cloudy with sun patches and a short drizzle. Surprising amount of traffic on the road, saw a civic! Fire and celebratory attitude at camp. “Galbraith Lake Campground” 6 hours 15 miles Day 12: Woke up leisurely, lounged around, day hike to West Galbraith Peak, tea and coffee on the summit. Camp time, eating everything that was left. Mostly cloudy, mild. “Galbraith Lake Campground” 5 mi, 4.5 hours Day 13: Lounged in the tent, rain and drizzle, picked up by van at 11. Wes from Dalton Highway Express picked us up in a beater 15 passenger van. Two entrees and a beer at the truck stop in Coldfoot. Food at the farthest north truck stop and bar in America was cheaper than in Bellingham. “Hotel Camp” 10 hours in the van, zero walking. Photo credits to Mike Graw. Gear Notes: backpacking gear, bear spray, rain gear Approach Notes: Airplane, deproach by van.

Well done, amigos Jason and Steve! And kudos for the rare TR that includes poetry, history, geography and fashion, as well as the outstanding photography we have come to expect.